NCAA Tournament Play-In Game: UCLA Bruins vs. St. Bonaventure Bonnies

This will be the 7th season that St. Bonaventure will play in the Big Dance.

"It's going to be hard, obviously, it's March Madness, but we'll be alright", Holiday said of the extra game. Less than 30 minutes after finding out UCLA's postseason fate on Sunday, the head coach met with the local media in Pauley Pavilion, jumped on Pac-12 Networks for a TV interview and dismissed his players before they would meet again that evening. UCLA lost a close game to Arizona taking the eventual champions to overtime before losing.

Coach Steve Alford said he didn't know much about St. Bonaventure, but he and Wilkes both noted that the Bonnies had impressive wins against teams like Maryland and Syracuse.

The Titans a 15th seed are making their first appearance in the tournament since 2008 and are lead by junior guard Kyle Allman (19.4 points, 43 percent 3-point shooting) and junior guard Khalil Ahmad (15.3 points).

The Bruins had such noteable wins against SEC Tournament victor Kentucky, a regular season win against Pac-12 Champion Arizona in Tucson and swept USC.

UCLA men's basketball (21-11) earned a No. 11 seed and will travel to Dayton, Ohio, for a Tuesday night game against fellow No. 11 seed St. Bonaventure (25-7) in a First Four matchup.

UCLA gained its footing after its early challenges and got in position for the NCAA Tournament - though just barely - by closing with eight wins in 12 games.

The Bruins and the Trojans aren't the only teams in Southern California to make the NCAA tournament.

The Bruins weren't alone in dealing with off-court issues.

Since the field was expanded to 68 teams in 2011, the 14 teams that advanced out of the First Four have combined for 12 wins in the main draw.

"This would be the first time that we won't get booed", Schmidt said.

Stockard suffered a hamstring injury in the Bonnies' Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal victory against Richmond, which forced him to miss the semifinal loss to Davidson. This will be the senior center's third NCAA Tournament appearance.

Wilkes had to sit through TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech before learning his team had punched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Titans play Purdue in Detroit on Friday. Nate Jones averages 11 minutes and 2.2 points per game.

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